7 Unexpected Spring Experiences in Georgetown

More baguettes, less regrets. Join the Georgetown BID at the 22nd annual Georgetown French Market, April 25-27 from 11am-5pm. More than 40 neighborhood boutiques, antique stores, restaurants, salons and galleries will display their discounted wares for up to 75% off at the open-air market. Neighborhood restaurants and vendors will also offer French cuisine and beyond – from crepes, pastries, croissants, and macarons, to personal charcuterie boards, grilled lunch items, savory tarts, and wine discounts. Enjoy live music, shop pop-up book sales, and catch our roaming unicyclist and mime. Bring the little ones (and young at heart) to Georgetown Neighborhood Library for face painting, a balloon twister, caricature artist, outdoor games, and more.

After you’ve made your rounds at the French Market, check out the 92nd Georgetown House Tour for your chance to peek inside some of the neighborhood’s most stunning homes. Come back in May for the 95th annual Georgetown Garden Tour and get some inspo for your own outdoor areas. If you want a head start on your green thumb, Georgetown Main Street is hosting a Georgetown Flower Tour on April 12. Visit participating small businesses to collect your flower stems and leave with a bouquet.

C&O Canal walking tours return this spring, telling the story of how the canal shaped the industrial development of Georgetown, and how Georgetown shaped the canal. Learn what it was like to be a canal boat worker and the science behind the lock system, and board the docked canal boat. The tours will cover approximately one mile of the canal and more than 200 years of history.

Two blocks south at the Georgetown waterfront, view The River and the Town, a new, temporary art installation by Andrea Limauro. Commissioned by Washington Post Opinions, the piece tells stories – past, present and future – of life, flood risk and resilience in the vast Potomac River floodplain.

It’s that time of year to get your sea legs – or, in this case, river legs. Bring the whole family to Key Bridge Boathouse or Thompson Boat Center and rent kayaks, paddleboards, or canoes by the hour or day. Tours and classes are also available. Paddleboard or boat past the Georgetown Waterfront, Roosevelt Island, some of DC’s most stunning monuments and under the beautiful Key Bridge.

Each May, area commuters celebrate bicycling as a clean, fun and healthy way to get to work during Commuter Connections and Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s Bike to Work Day. The Georgetown BID sponsors a “pit stop” in Georgetown Waterfront Park where commuters can enjoy refreshments and bicycle-themed giveaways. Join us May 15 from 7 – 9am! The first 16,000 who register and attend the event by bike will also receive a FREE T-shirt. Stay tuned for a full list of freebies, including local desserts and snacks, coffee, bike tune-ups, wellness shots, and more.

And you thought keeping that orchid alive was hard?! Inside of the Dumbarton Oaks orangery grows a 150+-year-old Ficus Pumila – the oldest house plant in North America. All of the historic estate’s gardens are rooted in the legacy of Dumbarton Oak’s original gardener, Beatrix Jones Farrand. The only female founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Beatrix began designing the garden in 1921 with Mildred Barnes Bliss, who purchased the property with her husband the year prior. The grounds were eventually donated to Harvard University. In addition to the gardens, don’t miss the Dumbarton House museum for its world-class collections of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art.